A journal about the English Language

Month: June 2014

Name: The rise and fall of Australian slang
Date: 11/6/14
Author: Jon Donnison

Key Ideas:

Australian English has the strongest history of slang in the world

Television played a big part in Australias slang and jargon

But slang is slowly dying out as more and more Australians think it is ‘uncool’ as politicians are using it to seem ‘cool’ and to get more votes

Language Features: Jargon, Australian SlangCourse Aspects: Unit 4 - AoS 1 - Language Variation in Australian Society: features of Broad, General and Cultivated Australian English accents, how Australian English varies according to geography, including national and regional variation, the role of language in constructing national identity. (there are many more)

Personal Opinion: I believe that Australian slang is dying out in more city/suburban areas around Australia, but in more rural areas, there would be many more broad speakers of English that use these types of slang more often. The politicians use of this slang is (in my opinion) to get all of the oldies voting for them instead, as there are much more of them than there are of the 20-40 age.

Name: What happens if Asians said the stuff white people say
Date: 10/6/14
Author: Candice Chung

Key Ideas:

Racism towards Asians is much less socially acceptable.

Some Asian people are taking advantage of not having racial slurs thrown at them by making racist jokes towards white people satirically.

Asians get hurt feelings too.

Language Features: Dysphemisms, Euphemisms, RacismCourse Aspects: Unit 4 - AoS 1 - Language Variation in Australian Society: attitudes within society to different varieties of English, including prescriptivism and descriptivism, how and why Australian English varies according to culture

Personal Opinion: I think that now that we can joke about being racist towards all races people could become more accepting of other races, (the people that are still racist) This is a bit of a touchy subject and I probably shouldn’t say too much on the matter..

Personal Opinion: I believe that conscious uncoupling would be a great way for couples to sort out their problems, it’s a cool new word with a deep meaning that could help many people through hard times. Many prescriptivists may find this word annoying or want to get rid of it for some reason but this deserves its place in the dictionary.

“Quotes”:

“The partner that initially looked confident can appear brash and smug. The assertive person turns out to be a bully.”

“If you don’t feel comfortable with parts of yourself, you “disown” this part and pick a partner who represents that part of you.”

“This is actually a pretty radical point of view when you consider that when nearly all people talk about their divorces, there’s always some element of blaming their partner.”

“If you are overly responsible, you will pick someone who is laid-back and mellow. If you tend to fret over spending money, you will pick someone who is self-indulgent. If you are afraid of your aggression, you will be attracted to someone who has no problem being assertive.”